Death in the Marshes

Their bulky silhouettes sashay with a grace that belies their girth, a languid gait, and a regular routine that requires no guidance, the blue light gives way to hazy dawn, where the mist mixes with the smoke from clay ovens, and the boys are heading to the fields to work.

Bubalus bubalis the beautiful Latin name for the water buffalo, with sad black eyes and the smile of a monochrome clown, have toiled the marshlands of Mesopotamia since the Bronze Age.

I had only been in the Marshes a few days and had already slipped into a similar routine, a breakfast of warm flatbread and a tortured egg, a shovel-sized portion of geymar, a clotted cream extravagance fit for a Sumerian and staple of any Iraqi kitchen.

Umm Hassan had also been up early, as she always is; she strides purposefully through an ad-hoc collection of breeze block buildings that make up the town of Al Chibayish, she will buy milk from the traders, and buffalo farmers will arrive by canoe from the floating farms across the central marshes.

The Iraqi marshlands are a rare aquatic wetland in an otherwise vast and arid desert, fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that define Mesopotamia. Its Biblical and historical importance was eclipsed by the twentieth-century carnage of imperialism and despotism. Close to the borders of Kuwait and Iran and a long way south of Baghdad.

I sit low in the mashoof as Abu Haidar navigates through a narrow channel, he cuts the motor and we glide effortlessly, pied kingfishers perched on the tall reeds dart as we approach, as the channel widens we meet a small herd of buffalo swimming towards us, their looped horns pointing behind them, wet matted hides shimmering as they move through the water, mysteriously propelled like bovine supertankers.

With a five-gallon milk churn first hoisted onto her shoulder and then balanced on her head, Umm Hassan arrives back at the family’s smallholding; buffalo calves are feeding from an abandoned mashoof while renegade children are rounded up and assigned chores.

The process of concocting geymar from the raw milk will begin with slowly boiling and simmering, like any artisan Umm Hassan takes pride in her work, wielding a flaming gas torch like a welder she fires up a row of stoves with shallow stainless steel dishes balanced on each, skimming the bubbling foam with a plastic jug and pouring it back in at arm’s length, the steam rising in the windowless, concrete cave of a room.

The buffalos are struggling, their habitat and source of sustenance are shrinking, clean water is more challenging to find as salt and pollution seeping in, aquatic vegetation disappearing, the rhythm of nature is stuttering, and without enough food, the buffalo give up their foraging and head back to the farms, many will not make it.

The natural flow of water is controlled by political intransigence and incompetence, where there is water there ought to be life but now there is uncertainty and unrest. The combination of climate change and the fragility of the ecosystem that has sustained the very roots of civilization are under a genuine threat that has implications far beyond the ragged borders of Iraq.

Umm Hassan is prodigious in her capacity for labor-intensive work, her face only veiled for the photographs, she laughs and works and manages to scold the children all at the same time, her teenage daughter is crushing ice with an iron bar and clearly enjoying the aggression, the family industry continues into the night, in the distance, across the shadowed marshes the orange glow of oil wells are flickering, Umm Hassan is barely surviving, a self-sufficient and sustainable existence will, inevitably, be abandoned for the already overcrowded city suburbs, in a country with broken infrastructure and broken government, the results don’t need to be predicted, they are happening, from the dry cracked river beds in the marshes to the frustrated protests on the city streets to desperate journeys across unforgiving seas.

I scoop up another helping of the creamy Qaymar, the bread warm in my fingers, we haven’t finished breakfast and already we are discussing lunch, when my armed escort arrives we will head out again into the marshes, this time on the east side of the Euphrates.

The Hammar marsh, a wilderness of vein-like steams, home to rare turtles and elusive warblers, of floating islands and houses built of reeds, the canoe cuts through the still waters and ducks scuttle, a man is cutting reeds, his gallabiya raised and tucked into his Arsenal shorts, surprised by my sudden appearance he readjusts his clothes and poses for a picture.

This is life today in what many believe to be the Garden of Eden, whether true or not little has changed, except maybe the original sin of wearing Arsenal FC underwear.

We cross the vast expanse of the Euphrates River with fishermen casting nets against a background of afternoon haze and black smoke, oil industry silhouettes in the distance, as we near the village we see water buffalo crossing a bridge, they are heading back to their paddock, unable to find enough to eat in the marshes, they know the farm will feed them, the farmer will have to transport fresh water and fodder from distant corners of the marsh. But they have not all survived; the corpse of an emaciated buffalo is dragged from the marsh and taken far enough away not to contaminate the water and dumped.

The Middle East is very much on the front line of climate change, with temperatures regularly exceeding 50 degrees centigrade, the effect on the most vulnerable like Umm Hassan and her family will be catastrophic, a traditional way of life in the southern marshes of Iraq is already almost unsustainable. Globally we are now experiencing a climate emergency, what happens in Iraq most certainly does not stay in Iraq.

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Comments

67 responses to “Death in the Marshes”

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you for reading Adrian

  1. lfpessemier Avatar

    Thank you for what you do (and I bought a coffee)… I would love to be there, too, but your beautiful writing and photographs convey so much.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you so much, really, your support is so much appreciated

  2. mic Avatar

    👌👌👌✍️📷

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you for sharing 🙂

  3. Brian Rope Avatar
    Brian Rope

    Great use of photography to support your words, with that very important message about climate change. Thanks so much for sharing it. I have shared on my social media pages.

  4. LaShelle Avatar

    This is riveting. What an incredible adventure. I hung on every word!

  5. blackbird212012 Avatar
    blackbird212012

    How the cow looks like broken pottery

  6. todgermanica Avatar

    A moving post with evocative pictures. Sad and depressing but not unexpected. Thank you.

  7. Yetismith Avatar

    There are so many innocent victims of climate warming. It’s heart wrenching.

  8. katelon Avatar

    Another beautiful story and photos. I admire you so for being able to enter all these foreign to me lands, join in their daily lives and report back to us. What we’ve done to the climate and what the US has done to Iraq and so many other countries is a tragedy. It is time to remedy it all. Thanks for the contributions you make to this effort.

  9. timothyginty Avatar
    timothyginty

    What evocative photography. I love those swimming water buffaloes 😁

  10. Michele Lee Avatar

    Great post, John. Captivating writing and photography, as you do.

  11. tidalscribe.com Avatar

    Lives we don’t hear about, thanks for such an interesting post.

  12. […] Death in the Marshes […]

  13. a curious firefly Avatar
    a curious firefly

    Your writing always paints such a detailed picture. I feel like I’m right there with you. Thank you, John.

  14. a curious firefly Avatar
    a curious firefly

    And your images! Your words and your images together! 🙂

  15. Gawar Avatar
    Gawar

    Excellent

  16. Francochuks Avatar

    Explicit 👍❤️

  17. Tracy Abell Avatar

    Thank you for this, John (typed through the tears in my eyes)

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Tracy
      I really don’t like the idea of tears in your eyes but do appreciate your understanding and concern

  18. Katriina Etholén Avatar

    Informative story and great photos as always. Accidentally, this was a second water buffalo story I read this morning. I just read about a Finnish farm that has brought water buffalos to clear wetland on their premises, and in the article there was also wider info about water buffalos and their use. The Finnish farm would like to start using their buffalos for milk production, too, but that’s not possible, because Finland’s legislation is preventing that. And then after reading that, I opened your article and soon I realized I am reading again about water buffalos!!!!!

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Well we know where to come when we need a water buffalo expert!
      I have not had time to read your blog properly but it looks fascinating, I also used to be a rock music photographer in a previous life.
      Thank you for reading 🙂

      1. Katriina Etholén Avatar

        Thank you very much for your nice words. I do understand very well… the time is limited. If I get a notification via e-mail, I don’t mark them as read, and I am afraid to see that there are interesting stuff from other bloggers from the spring and I haven’t yet read them! So yes, I do understand. I became interested in photography about 40 years ago when I found the work of Magnum photographers etc. I have never myself been photographing people unless they are standing on the stage (!), but human stories, photo stories or stories with lots of photos have always been close to my heart. That’s why I like to read your stories, little by little.

  19. Olaitan, Maryam Mojisola Avatar
    Olaitan, Maryam Mojisola

    I have read about 7 blog posts on your site on one sitting. I must confess that I’m fascinated by the photographs, and especially the narratives that accompany the photographs. I could literally feel myself in the places that you wrote about. Thank you for sharing your works!

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you so much for taking the time to read and then comment, really, I am so appreciative. Its often hard work so to know that somebody is actually reading. Do pop back soon 🙂

  20. shortstaycarpark Avatar

    This is a wonderful piece, so well written and photographed. Stunning scenery. Very incisive narrative.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you for reading and the kind words, very much appreciated

      1. shortstaycarpark Avatar

        John , Thank you for dipping into shortstaycarpatk. I love your pieces and photographs.

  21. Anjali Avatar

    Amazing 💜

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Anjali 🙂
      Loved the Rumi quote on your blog by the way

      1. Anjali Avatar

        Thank ya 😊

  22. christinepsparks Avatar

    Thank you for this window into unique place.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Christine
      I have just followed your blog-lots to read but I am really there just for the compost tutorial

      1. christinepsparks Avatar

        Thank you! The composting video is a good one! Soil health should be the foundation of gardening. I learned a lot from this video – my compost is thriving this year. Good to spread the word.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Rochelle 🙂
      And I love your comment

  23. Laurent Monserrat Avatar

    Very impressive this feeling of dryness and how man is able to live in a hostile environment.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Laurent
      There is indeed a certain resilience

  24. Mthobisi Magagula Avatar

    Okay a very detailed blog here John
    👏

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      I am doing my best Mthobisi my friend 🙂
      I hope all is going well with you

  25. AndysWorldJourneys Avatar

    amazing. thanks for sharing this John, powerful in so many ways, pointing at so many issues

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you 🙂
      So many issues indeed-so glad you appreciate my attempts at highlighting them

  26. poetisatinta Avatar

    Once again John, a breath-taking post with incredible images, and I always learn something – I had no idea there are marshes there let alone the wildlife, thanks for sharing – Angela

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Angela
      I really appreciate you reading and commenting.
      Its not a very well known part of the world although the issues of climate change are all around us.

      1. poetisatinta Avatar

        Yes – sadly so very true

  27. Daily Poetry Avatar

    Excellent reporting. The photos were outstanding. It’s to bad due to political incompetence and climate change this way of life is threatened.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you
      Political incompetence combined with a global lack of desire to effect meaningful change-sadly

  28. Rachel Ann Avatar

    Fascinating processes to learn about. The climate and dwindling water supply is so concerning. Thank you for this post. I enjoyed the visuals with your descriptions.😊

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you Rachel 🙂
      I am pleased you enjoyed the article. It is a distant corner of the earth but a global issue. I am hoping to produce more work on the subject soon. I appreciate you reading.

  29. Mauby - Travel & Tales Avatar

    The pictures are wonderful i

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you, I am glad you appreciate them

  30. tongkm Avatar

    Poetic photos with beautiful story telling

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      Thank you so much 🙂
      I checked your blog, you have some great images, I love the rainy train tracks. Be great to see an “About Me” page. Keep up the good work

  31. newsintercontinental.com Avatar

    It’s a very sympathetic and sincere dialog with self and nature. Characters keep on changing. Sometimes humans, animals,plants and the special callous breed of politicians and industrialists. Sincerely feel that the landscape to remain intact and unchanged. Well done pal 👍

  32. butimbeautiful Avatar

    That’s fascinating. As a student of ancient history I’ve read a lot about Mesopotamia, but never thought about what life is like there now. It’s terrible that this story is mirrored again and again in so many places across the world and particularly where people have no power to change things or to cope with the changes that are coming.

  33. lesleyscoble Avatar

    Descriptive, evocative and very moving glimpse into the region of Mesopotamia. My heart goes out to the water buffalo ♥️ in these terrible and worrying times.

    (btw. I’m an Arsenal fan ⚽️)

    Lesley 🌹

  34. morgan77young Avatar

    The balance between words and images is so smooth, and lovely. You’re are very talented.

    1. johnwreford Avatar

      You are very kind Morgan, thank you 🙂

  35. SG Avatar

    enjoyed the read

  36. frankgphotography Avatar

    Greetings, this is my first time seeing something like. very interesting to see the process and hearing about this. I appreciate the post.

  37. Felic Avatar

    Love the photographs, they are from a high quality.

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